Feherty On Medinah: Not Great, But Not Belfry Bad

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And the hits keep coming from Wednesday's Golf Channel/NBC conference call, David Feherty:

DAVID FEHERTY:  You know, we have covered PGA Championships there, and Medinah is a long slog of a golf course, between some enormous trees, and has a couple of very similar par 3s over the water.  It's going to favor, I would say, you know, the longer hitters, that's for sure.  And you know, it's got a great finish.  We remember Sergio, I think in '99, 16, chopping it out from behind the trees on the right.  Then a couple of springbok leaps up there and then the par 3, the stare back at Tiger; a great finishing hole.

You know, it's a good golf course.  I don't think personally, you know, that it's great, but if you look at the venues that the Ryder Cup has had, at The Belfry, for instance, which was a horrible golf course to start off with, improved very slightly; it was never a great golf course, but it was a tremendous venue.  I think the crowds in Chicago will turn that golf course into something special.

Brandel: Since The Miceli Run-In, Tiger Has Become More Amiable, Even Pairable

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From yesterday's Golf Channel/Ryder Cup conference call, Brandel Chamblee talking about the kinder, gentler Tiger Woods we've seen in the second half of 2012 and how Tiger might even make a semi-decent Ryder Cup partner for someone.

Brandel on Tiger for the team room bulletin board:

And also from the perspective that I think he's become more amiable.  I think he has a different perspective now.  He's looking around, to Johnny's point and saying, what is my legacy going to be, and am I going to have relationships with these people later in life.

It's been interesting.  It's been fun to watch Tiger Woods in his post‑round remarks, maybe since the Honda when he had that little tiff with Alex Miceli.  But since then, he's been a different guy, and I think the players recognize that.

I think that's going to help him in his Ryder Cup experience, because he's going to be more of the leader that Seve was that took lesser players like Manuel Piñero and made them getter; Gilford, made him better; José, made him better.

Tiger's never done that before in a Ryder Cup.  You've [got] to make rookies better in a Ryder Cup situation.

"Melissa Reid 'can't wait for season to end' and the dawn of her new career playing in America"

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Quoting Melissa Reid extensively, James Corrigan files an emotional Telegraph piece on the eve of the Ricoh Women's Open Championship where the English golfer opens up about her completely understandable struggles with grief following her mum's tragic death in May and a tournament win in June.

The nadir came at last month’s Irish Open at Killeen Castle. It was too much to take. At the same venue the year before she had been a member of the Europe Solheim Cup team that beat America and her mother had played a full part in the celebrations.

The memories ganged up on Reid. “I was really, really struggling, she said. “I’ve always thought I’m good at blocking things out, but obviously not something like this. It was after eight holes when my caddie, Johnny, looked at me and said ‘do you want to go in’. I said ‘yeah’. And he said ‘come on let’s go, you don’t have to prove anything to anybody’.”

Reid tees off Thursday at 11:30 ET with Sandra Gal and Anne-Lise Caudal.

She is headed to LPGA Tour school this fall to try and earn her card.

Arnie Getting His Congressional Medal: "Proud of anything the House and the Senate could agree upon."

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Stephen Hennessey with the details of Arnold Palmer's ceremony today on Capitol Hill to receive the Congressional Gold Medal.

John Boehner summed up The King quite nicely:

"He didn't set out to change the game. But he did. Arnold Palmer democratized golf. And made us think that we too could go out and play, and made us believe we could do anything really. All we had to do was go out and try," said Speaker of the House John Boehner, one of a number of politicians who helped honor Palmer in a cermony in the Rotunda of the Capitol building.

"You've struck our hearts and our minds, and today your government and fellow citizens are striking the Golf Medal for you."

25-1: Lydia Ko

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The braintrust at William Hill installed 15-year-old Lydia Ko at 25-1 for the Women's Open Championship, making her a joint 10th favorite.

Judging by the glowing praise from her colleagues as quoted in Alistair Tait's story, no one is counting her out.

“You can’t quite believe how good she is at 15,” said Scotland’s Catriona Matthew, the 2009 Women’s British Open champion. “Just the composure she showed on the last day. She actually went away from the field. It’s slightly embarrassing to be beaten by a 15-year-old. She’s obviously a fantastic player with huge potential.”

Update: Reset Cup As A Stroke Play

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Believe it or not, Doug Ferguson has filed yet another rave review for the FedExCup and it includes a nice mention of all the fawning (well, rear-end-kissing) texts Tim Finchem received for the BMW Championship leaderboard (any follow-up texts today congratulating him on a 2.5 rating that would indeed edge out a poker championship on ESPN).

Thankfully, Randall Mell points out this year's ridiculous oddity and the overall awkward nature of the cup: Louis Oosthuizen can finish second this week and win the Reset Cup without winning any playoff tournaments.

Now, in an alternate universe where the bar is a bit higher than merely celebrating a gathering of stars no matter how silly the competition, we look for ways to actually make this competition appealing to a wider audience.

Gary Van Sickle's suggestion for an aggregate FedExCup continues to appeal despite one (not deadly) flaw: season-long points don't mean much besides getting you in the playoffs. However, the issue of trying to reward good play during the regular season could be remedied and that's not important right now. (It's easy to visualize a stroke-based system that rewards the top players and penalizes the bottom feeders.)

Seeing as how we are through three playoff stages with only the Tour Championship at East Lake next week, Jim McCabe updates us on the leaderboard for those who have played all three playoff events (Dufner and Garcia therefore are DQ'd).

Here are the top 10 (McCabe lists more and has more plus some other good playoff notes worth checking out):

    •    Rory McIlroy, 41 under
    •    Dustin Johnson, 36 under
    •    Tiger Woods, 34 under
    •    Louis Oosthuizen, 34 under
    •    Phil Mickelson, 31 under
    •    Lee Westwood, 31 under
    •    Brandt Snedeker, 25 under
    •    Ryan Moore, 24 under
    •    Adam Scott, 24 under
    •    Nick Watney, 19 under

How would this not be a more interesting race to follow at East Lake along with the Tour Championship itself? Two tournaments going at once and every fan can understand scores to par. And as Van Sickle has proposed, perhaps a five-stroke credit for winning a playoff event to, gulp, incentivize the boys.

More important, would this be fan friendly?

When the PGA Tour's dynamic video scoreboards take a break from showing ads or telling us who the host professional is, they could easily tell us where the tournament and FedExCup stand. Right? And wouldn't the entire affair have more credibility with fans if they could actually understand what is going on? Or is the fan that low on the list of the insulated world of the PGA Tour that they simply do not care about that aspect of the Reset Cup?